P Ch7 Implementing Change: OD, Appreciative Inquiry, Positive Org. Scholarship, Sense-Making

Question 1

common threads of the OD approach

Answer 1

• underpinns the coach image
• planned and involves a systematic diagnosis of the whole org. system
• top of org. does the change
• improve effectiveness
• long-term 2-3 years for change
• action-oriented
• focus is to change attitudes and behavior
• experiential-based learning helps identify current behaviors and modifications that are needed.
• groups and teams key focus

Question 2

3 value in OD

Answer 2

• humanistic
• democratic
• developmental (authenticity, growth, self-realization)

Question 3

OD Practitioner

Answer 3

• internal or external to org.

- helps structure activities so that members can do them on their own

Question 4

OD and action research steps:

Answer 4

1. Problem identification: someone in org. finds a problem
2. Consultation with an OD practitioner: client and practitioner come together
3. Data gathering and problem diagnosis: Interviews. etc. they are all intervention because they entail interaction with people
4. Feedback: consultant gives client data
5. Joint Problem diagnosis
6. Joint action planning
7. Change actions: introduction of new techniques and behaviors
8. Further data gathering: outcomes of change determined and further actions identified

Question 5

action research meaning

Answer 5

Action research is a philosophy and methodology of research generally applied in the social sciences. It seeks transformative change through the simultaneous process of taking action and doing research, which are linked together by critical reflection.

Question 6

Skills of OD practitioner

Answer 6

• Intrapersonal skills: well-developed set of values, personal integrity and the ability to retain health in stressful situations
• Interpersonal skills: team work skills
• General consultation skills:
• Org. development theory: that they have current understanding of the specialist field of which they are a part

Question 7

Kurt Lewin 3 stage model of how change occurs

Answer 7

• unfreezing: establishing the need for change
• movement: new behavior through cognitive restructuring
• refreezing: integration of new behavior into social and org. relationships

Question 8

Criticism of OD

Answer 8

• different definitions and concepts
• difficult to establish a relationship btw. OD and its ability to enhance org. effectiveness
• internal validity problems
• external validity problems
• lack of theory
• problems with measuring attitude changes
• problems with normal science approaches to research

Question 9

internal validity problems:

Answer 9

whether the change that occurred was caused by the change intervention or a range of other factors

Question 10

external validity problems

Answer 10

• generalizability

Question 11

problems with normal science approaches to research

Answer 11

• usual techniques as hypothesis testing etc. are not really used in action research

Question 12

New OD techniques for transformational change

Answer 12

• inclusion of new voices in the change process
• joint decision making

–> Appreciative inquiry

Question 13

Appreciative inquiry

Answer 13

• focus on joint envisioning of the future (not problem solving)
• find out what currently works best and build on this knowledge

Question 14

4 steps of Appreciative inquiry

Answer 14

• discovering what is currently practiced: what gives life?
• building on this knowledge: Dream what might be what the world is calling for?
• designing what should be done: co-constructing
• sustaining the destiny or future: How to empower, learn, improvise?

Question 15

Positive Organizational Scholarship (POS)

Answer 15

• encompasses appreciative inquiry
• seeks to find instances of positive deviance
• spread “best plays” to the rest of the org.
• POS is concerned with understanding the integration of positive and negative conditions, not merely with an absence of the negative

Question 16

critique of POS

Answer 16

• which points are positive
• are positive and negative not the same
• what is regarded as positive differs
• dark side of positiveness: not all people respond well to positive programs like empowerment

Question 17

Sense-making approaches

Answer 17

• interpreter image

- alternative approach to OD, because of three common change assumptions that need to be departed with

Question 18

Sense-making vs. OD

three common change assumptions (in OD) that need to be departed with

Answer 18

• inertia
• assumption that standardized change program is needed
• unfreezing

Question 19

• departure from inertia

Answer 19

• inertia is the assumption that there is a lag btw. env. change and org. adaption and that therefore change has to be planned
• he suggests that there should be a focus on the flows and processes through which an org. works not the structure
• org. are ongoing states of accomplishment and re-accomplishment –> routines are undergoing adjustment to better fit changing circumstances

Question 20

• departure from the idea that a standardized change program is needed

Answer 20

• a standardized change program fails to achieve the four drivers of org. change
• -> programmed or intentional change fails to activate one or more of the sense-making forces that assist individuals in managing ambiguity

Question 21

four drivers of org. change

Answer 21

• animation
• direction
• paying attention and updating
• respectful, candid interaction

–> drivers emerge form sense-making perspective (change engages efforts to make sense of events that don’t fit together)

Question 22

animation

Answer 22

(people remain in motion and experiment e.g. with job description)

Question 23

direction

Answer 23

(being able to implement, in novel ways, directed strategies)

Question 24

paying attention and updating

Answer 24

(updating knowledge of the environment and reviewing and rewriting org. requirements)

Question 25

respectful, candid interaction

Answer 25

(when people are encouraged to speak out and engage in dialogue, particularly when things are not working well)

Question 26

departure from unfreezing

Answer 26

• unfreezing come from the assumption that org. suffer from inertia and need to be unfrozen.
• however, if change is continuous and emergent, then the system is already unfrozen.
• the process should be:
• freeze (change agent identifies and shows what are the emergent and adaptive changes currently occurring)
• rebalance (remove blockades)
• unfreeze